Would you like to tell us about a lower price? If you are a seller for this product, would you like to suggest updates through seller support? Matt's first cell split and divided inside a petri dish. Then he was placed in the womb of a cow, where he continued the miraculous journey from embryo to fetus to baby.
Escape is the only chance Matt has to survive. Read more Read less. Add all three to Cart Add all three to List. Buy the selected items together This item: Ships from and sold by Amazon. Customers who bought this item also bought. Page 1 of 1 Start over Page 1 of 1. The Lord of Opium. I Am the Cheese. The Ear, the Eye, and the Arm. Here's how restrictions apply. Start reading The House of the Scorpion on your Kindle in under a minute. Don't have a Kindle? Try the Kindle edition and experience these great reading features: Share your thoughts with other customers.
Write a customer review. See all customer images. Read reviews that mention house of the scorpion nancy farmer science fiction tam lin drug lord matteo alacran takes place main character united states recommend this book poppy fields great book matt is a clone ever read powerful drug read this book years old even though ear the eye years old. Showing of reviews. Top Reviews Most recent Top Reviews. There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.
That's all I can say for this book. I am a parent who has been going through a number of books so that when my sons are of age, I can have a reading list of suitable books for them whose content I am comfortable with. Books written for adolescents have way too much anguish and sex in them for my [Orthodox Jewish] taste. This is one of those books that passes that test. The prose is good and at the level of a reasonably intelligent adolescent; 2. The character is something that would make sense to an adolescent boy; 4.
There are several great topics for discussion, among them: Drug use and abuse d. Questions about what is suffering.
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The House of the Scorpion Front cover of first edition, later printing with medal images. With acceptance speech by Farmer and introduction by panelist Han Nolan , who remarked: Association for Library Service to Children. Printz Winners and Honor Books". Locus Index to SF Awards. Nancy Farmer's official home page. Archived from the original on Grand Canyon Reader Awards. Retrieved from " https: Pages to import images to Wikidata. Views Read Edit View history. This page was last edited on 13 December , at But are there infinite possible versions of the exact same person?
How much of who we are is written into out genetic code and how much is shaped by external things? How does choice factor into the way we develop, and what if those choices are never presented? But for me, it was this shifting from the firmly realistic to the speculative that gave this book the slightly surreal atmosphere that I came to enjoy. I do think that given the nature of some of the events and I apologise for being deliberately vague her - actually for the whole vagueness of this review in general , I should have felt closer, more emotionally involved in the story.
View all 5 comments. See the RACK of medals of the cover of this book? A friend told me she felt this novel changed the face of science-fiction. I didn't buy the hype, and still have issues with the extremely slow start of this novel. It has been sitting on my desk for almost two years no lie and I finally read it. After the first 80 pages of slow moving material, I finally became vested in the characters and thought the novel finally caught on. I think this novel probably doe Yeah, yeah, yeah. I think this novel probably does change the face of Sci-Fi for MG audiences, because the novel tackles some pretty high-brow concepts modern slavery, cloning, organ harvesting, Communism, Marxism, Drugs and drug trafficking, addiction, adoption, forgiveness and like Lois Lowry 's book The Giver Farmer does not shy away from these complexities.
I appreciated the way that Farmer finishes the book, unlike Lowry who closes with ambiguity, Farmer lays it all out on the table. I also predicted the ending with about pages left to go in this book, which I guess is okay because I am a Sci-Fi aficionado and not a sixth-grader. The book for me as an adult probably would get a 3. The house of the Scorpion is a book about a clone named Matteo Alacran.
Paperback Editions
He was cloned from El Patron and harvested from a cow. His mother like figure is a woman named Celia. When Matteo, "Matt" lives with Celia he doesn't understand that he is different from everyone else. When he is brought from his little house in the poppy field to "The Big House," his life changes for the better and worse. He meets a girl he likes, named Maria, who also likes him, but he is treated like dirt from all of the The house of the Scorpion is a book about a clone named Matteo Alacran.
He meets a girl he likes, named Maria, who also likes him, but he is treated like dirt from all of the other people living in the house. For six months he lives like an animal, until the day Maria's father sends El Patron a letter explaining to him what has been happening to his clone. When El Patron comes to "The Big House", everything is changed, and whenever El Patron is around Matt, he is treated like a regular person, but when he is gone, Matt is back to being treated like dirt.
This is a book that is full of suspense, action, mystery, and even a bit of horror. This book will make you cry and make you laugh, but no matter what you will definitely enjoy this book. I am not a reader, and I love this book even though it is so long. This is probably the best book I have read in a very long time and I suggest this book to everyone. This is a fictional book, but it is written so well that even though you know everything is fake, you still feel so bad for Matt. When your reading this book it's so intense so you feel like you are part of the book, and that is my opinion of The house of the Scorpion.
Apr 09, Cindy Newton rated it really liked it Shelves: I read this to preview for future class use, and I'm very enthusiastic about possibly using it as a whole-class read in the future. It's chockfull of great issues to be explored in class discussions and writing assignments. Best of all, it is a compelling story that will definitely engage even our more reluctant readers. In addition to that, I enjoyed it personally. Farmer creates a dystopian world that is believable due to the fact that it is based on so many of the issues we are dealing with to I read this to preview for future class use, and I'm very enthusiastic about possibly using it as a whole-class read in the future.
Farmer creates a dystopian world that is believable due to the fact that it is based on so many of the issues we are dealing with today: It also addresses more universal themes such as the desire for acceptance, the effects of loneliness and isolation, the limits of love and loyalty, etc. Our kids would not find it hard, I believe, to make the connections between the themes in this book and those of the classic literature we read. We would also be able to explore these topics in more depth through non-fiction pieces during our research unit.
Aside from the bounty of educational uses, it's just a great story that keeps you turning the pages! I'd like to read the sequel and see what happens next. That really says it all, doesn't it? Jun 06, Maddie L rated it really liked it. This book was very slow and boring at the beginning, but as I went on I started really enjoying it. I recommend it for people, but if you do decide to read it give it time before you decide you don't like it. Nisam je citala za sebe, pa sam si zaista dala truda da prelazim preko svih mogucih kliseja, cak i opasne ideologije koja se provlaci onako suptilno, a tice se djevojacko - djecackih odnosa.
Bas ono najvece americko YA smece koje zbog xy razloga i vremena u kojem zivimo naprosto mora biti "distopija". A distopije volim i imam te alergijske reakcije na distopijsko smece poput ovog, koje cak nije ni smece smeca pa da bude dovoljno sarmantno da 2,5 Neopisivo mi je drago da sam zavrsila ovu glupost.
A distopije volim i imam te alergijske reakcije na distopijsko smece poput ovog, koje cak nije ni smece smeca pa da bude dovoljno sarmantno da bude dobro. Radnja je smjestena u zemlju Opijum kojom vlada El Patron naravno, a ta zemlja podsjeca na Meksiko, iako je to nas Meksiko buducnosti. Taj diktator proizvodi svoje klonove kako bi imao vjecne donatore organa i ljude koje nazivaju eejitima a cijelo vrijeme u sebi sam citala kao irijioti, pa bi mi se putem i to r izgubilo koji su roblje i kojima je oduzeta sposobnost rasudivanja Opijum je kao zemlja u sporazumu sa svim zemljama - oni proizvode drogu i ne salju je u zemlje partnerice, a u isto vrijeme zauzvrat, kontroliraju granice.
I to je otprilike dio koji mogu shvatiti Valja uzeti u obzir da sam bice potpuno svjesno cemu YA ili knjizevnost za djecu sluzi - ona uvijek moralizira, educira ili nazovi kako hoces, a to pokusava na bezbroj nacina da malom bicu pripremi teren da jednog dana postane Covjek koji nije nuzno zaljubljen u vlastiti odraz. Kad nekome pokusam objasniti kakve knjige volim, obicno se zapetljam dok je sustina svega da stil mora biti prekrasan, a ako je prica i naivna - mora bas biti iz srca. Onda mogu suzit na ljepotu i neke moralne vertikale u zivotu.
A ako nije naivna prica, onda mora imati inovaciju i taj stil stvarno mora biti prekrasan. Slucaj je eto htio da ova knjiga ima u redu stil, nije spektakularan ali je protocan. Prica ide ujednacenim, dinamicnim tempom. A najvise me uznemiri kad djecak ponizava stanovitu djevojcicu u koju je naravno zaljubljen a mene doslovno jeza lovi od nacina na koji to manifestira , pa ju rasplace i osramoti, a ona celjade brizno, malo tako bude ljuta i onda ga voli.
I sve je ok. Nije to ta jedna scena, citava filozofija njihovog odnosa se temelji na tome. Sto bi rec, da je to neka kompleksna radnja u kojoj ja aktivno sudjelujem u slojevima psiholoskih previranja i unutarnjih borbi, popusila bih to. Ovako je samo degutantno. Opet sam se nazivcirala od samog prisjecanja Zivot je prekratak da se ne bih drzala klasika. Iako, u svijetu u kojem upaljace kupujem na posti, a lignje na kiosku i to sve dok glazbenici dobivaju Nobela - pitanje glasi, koji su to moji klasici? Nikad mi se to prije nije dogodilo.
Dozvoljavam si misliti da se neke rune kriju izmedu redova, pa je jedina dobra stvar sto sam otkrila s ovom knjigom i onim ceskim filmom Okovi, lijek za nesanicu. Jun 03, Rose rated it it was amazing Shelves: I'm pretty much at a loss for words at this point in time because I didn't expect this story to grip me as much as it did. Nancy Farmer's "The House of the Scorpion" was a story that took years for me to pick up since its original publication date. Seriously, I think I had every barrier there was trying to pick up this book to read because it was either that I'd had other reading in an academic measure to do over it, or somehow it was always checked out or unavailable at my library or bookstore.
Yet on a spontaneous trip to the library one evening when browsing the shelves, when I wasn't even looking for it, I found it. Picking it up and reflecting upon it now has me kicking myself mentally for not reading it sooner, because In the sense of taking my attention, gripping me along for the journey in the eyes of the perspective character, and running the gauntlet all the way until the last page. And there are relatively few narratives that I stop to savor every page because the writing and the characters connect with me so much that I don't want it to end.
This novel was one of those books for me personally. The main character of this novel, Matt, has a difficult journey for him from the very get go of things. He's the only clone to survive in the batch of cells cultivated from a very powerful, but elderly drug lord. The story follows him from birth to the age of 14, and it's hard not to be taken by his respective development over those years and experiences.
He's a fascinating character to watch in the duration of this novel - for how funny, charming, sincere, and even in the moments where he feels the heaviest sense of pain. The amount of hardship he endures, the hatred put against him for what he is and what he represents, the conflicted feelings he has about his own identity and learning about the world and the family he's wrapped up within all are quite palpable.
Even for the characters who have a darker presence in this novel, it's hard not to be charmed or taken into their perspectives and experiences because Farmer creates them so carefully. There were certainly moments when I chuckled at the interactions between characters Matt and Tam Lin certainly had a few of those moments for me personally - and gah, I loved Tam Lin even with his respective conflicted background , but there's a darkness to this story as well, and it deals with some very heavy themes that leave an indelible impression with respect to the characters it involves.
Scorpion House, Moulay Idriss
Things like cloning, slavery, the drug trade, prejudices, the hierarchy and power struggles of family, belief systems, among other matters. There are also quite many characters to keep up with in the spectrum of the story. Yet, Farmer makes the narrative and those characters' experience flow so smoothly and with ease that it just comes naturally in the duration of the work.
Even now, as I'm reflecting on the whole of it, this story, its respective players, conflicts - none of it has left me, and for me that's a mark of a strong story: To say that I was impressed with this novel is rather an understatement.
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Having said that, I'm not going to pretend that this novel didn't have a few stumbles. Having to introduce those particular players in that part of the story was a bit of another beginning that took a bit to find the flow of before it steamrolled to the end. Even with that consideration, I really enjoyed the journey this took me on.
I'm certainly looking forward to reading the next chapter in Matt's journey and I think this is a novel that does so many things remarkably well. It's one I won't forget, one I think many MG and YA readers as well as those beyond that audience will enjoy, and it gets my highest recommendation. View all 8 comments. Jul 11, Meredith Holley rated it it was amazing Recommends it for: I do not love being in the desert, but I think I do love reading about other people being in the desert. I guess I kind of like reading anyone who really has the feel of a setting, and I think Nancy Farmer has that here.
This was desolate and full of desert flowers, and just enough mystery and elusive environmental contamination to set the scene for a lovely dystopian world. This was a wonderful, scary, heartwarming, chilling, inspiring story. While I was reading this, I ke I do not love being in the desert, but I think I do love reading about other people being in the desert. While I was reading this, I kept wondering if maybe I was experiencing some of the pleasure other people get from Wither. Like Wither , this one had that genetic-manipulation future, with redesigned geography, and some gadgets, but still a mostly familiar setting.
It questions science, religion, politics, the nature of friendship, the nature of power. This book follows the main character, Matt, a clone, through his childhood, as he experiences isolation, torture, rejection, lavish gifts and education, friendship, mentoring, and daring adventures. Most of the time. But, that only made it more fun. I only have two complaints, having to do with the reductionist political messages I think are here in two places.
First, there is a part where the eeeeeevil drug lord, El Patron, view spoiler [takes the brains of clone babies and Science inserts them into his brain to help him live longer hide spoiler ]. That felt like a cheap dig at stem-cell research, to me. My second complaint is somewhat similar.
Many people have complained that the last section of the book feels like an odd tack-on to the rest of the story. I agree to some extent, and I think it could have just as easily been its own book and worked better like, if House of the Scorpion ended at Tam Lin taking Matt out, and the next book started with him at the oasis. That seemed a little easy and silly. With both of those complaints, I feel like the topics are serious enough that they deserve a more complex characterization.
The House of the Scorpion Book Review
But, especially with new scientific and political problems, I think it benefits both sides of an argument to see the value, or at least the complexity, in an issue. Overall, the story and characters were just wonderful. I loved them all. This was a really brilliant story.
The House of the Scorpion by Nancy Farmer absolutely captivated me. I read it in about a day and could not put it down. The book touches upon many themes: The story is beautifully written and is told in the voice of a young child. Matt is born to this world with a purpose. He is seen as a beast and treated like an animal.
He is educated, allowed to play the piano, and allowed to ride a horse. Matt has his own personal body guard who teaches him survival training. There are some dark undertones to this book and while El Patron looks like a doting father, something sinister is afoot. Just go into the story with an open mind and enjoy. View all 6 comments. First read this in when my daughters were in middle school.
It really helps you look at huma First read this in when my daughters were in middle school. It really helps you look at human life and ask what it means to be a human being. What exactly constitutes a human person? Someone born of a mother? Who also had a father? The will to live? Do we consider the needs of the state? Jun 06, Evgeny rated it liked it Shelves: I need to mention I received this book in Goodreads giveaways. I also need to mention that the real rating for this book is 3. I never felt more strongly about having 0. Matteo Alacran Matt most of the time is a clone of a very powerful drug lord El Patron who was created to provide replacement organs f First things first: Matteo Alacran Matt most of the time is a clone of a very powerful drug lord El Patron who was created to provide replacement organs for the latter.
The problem was, El Patron also wanted to have somebody who reminded him about his childhood - and who is the better candidate than his own clone? As a result Matt's brain was not destroyed unlike other clones' that were created for other people. So we have an intelligent almost-but-not-quite human being on one hand and people who regard Matt as something lower than an animal on the other hand.
It does not help any that El Patron's clan members hate each other - and everybody else for that matter. The book raises a lot of interesting and important questions: The plot itself is interesting if slow in the beginning and way too fast in the end. Now for the bad parts: Once the book switches to other places, we finally get interesting people and interactions between them - other than just blind hate. I already mentioned plot moving way too slow in the beginning and being rushed in the end.
I can actually point to the particular place in the text where the author decided it is time to wrap up everything; the result is that the end feels very simplistic and unfinished. All in all this is not a bad book, but I expected it to be much better from the amount of awards it received. It did not help any that I was reading an adult dystopia book at the same time which had more depth.
Aug 30, Lyndsey rated it really liked it Shelves: I started this one a while back and took a long break before coming back to finish it. I had forgotten how intensely and wonderfully creative this book was. I had forgotten the beauty of the language used in it. The mysteries of Matt's relationship with El Patron. The nickname he is called, mi vida - my life - which has so much more meaning than even he realizes. The subplots of this book are extensive and diverse. Scientific experiments, drug dealing, juvenile espionage, child imprisonment, and I started this one a while back and took a long break before coming back to finish it.
Scientific experiments, drug dealing, juvenile espionage, child imprisonment, and family power struggles just to name a few. At first, eejit is used as a derogatory term and I thought that was just their term for idiot. But it runs much deeper than even that. I don't want to give anything away but it is certainly an interesting take on the human experience. In fact, everything in this book comes back to the question: What is it that makes us human? I can't say for certain whether all the questions are answered, so you'll just have to find out for yourself.
But I can certainly say that I had a great time attempting to find answers for myself inside this wildly imaginative book.
My only disappointment with this book was that I didn't feel the emotions as strongly as I would have liked. And I did kind of expect a twist and the end, but the ending was beautiful none the less. Dec 01, Riley Schopf added it. A very beautiful story and had just stunning visualization. At one point in the story, Matt the main character, on a mountain, and the word choice is breath taking.